Overview

Our science department comprises highly qualified teachers and three experienced technicians, offering a broad and academically rigorous curriculum suited to all students. We provide multiple pathways to higher education and STEM careers, ensuring science is accessible to everyone. We are one of the few schools in Sheffield to allow all students the option to study separate sciences at GCSE, with over 50% of Year 9 students choosing this route annually.

Key Stage 3

Science is taught in mixed ability groups in Year 7 and then in sets in Year 8 and 9. Skills and knowledge are developed concurrently. In Year 9, bridging modules in January consolidate learning and prepare pupils for Key Stage 4.

Key Stage 4

Students choose between the combined science GCSE or the three separate sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), with full flexibility to select the pathway that suits their interests and aspirations.

Year 7

  • Cells
  • Forces and motion
  • Matter
  • Reproduction
  • Elements
  • Energy resources
  • Variation and classification
  • Separating mixtures
  • Electric circuits
  • Solar system
  • Experimental and investigative skills

Year 8

  • Respiration
  • Heating and cooling
  • Magnets and electromagnets
  • Compounds
  • Fit and healthy
  • Waves and sound
  • Acids and alkalis
  • Ecological relationships
  • Physical v chemical
  • Light
  • Earth’s resources
  • Experimental and investigative skills

Year 9

  • Plants and photosynthesis
  • Cells and microscopy
  • Enzymes
  • Transport across the cell membrane
  • Chemical reactions
  • States of matter
  • Atomic structure and the periodic table
  • Earth
  • Electrical circuits
  • Forces and motion
  • Energy
  • Units and physical quantities

Year 10 & 11

Combined Science

  • Animal control and coordination
  • Exchange and transport in animals
  • Ecosystems and material cycles
  • Plant structures and their functions
  • Health, disease and the development of medicines
  • Genetics
  • Cells and control
  • Natural selection and genetic modification
  • Bonding
  • Acids and calculations
  • Metals and electrolytic processes
  • Groups and heat energy changes in chemical reactions
  • Fuels and Earth and Atmospheric science
  • Conservation of energy
  • Waves, Light and the EM Spectrum
  • Radioactivity
  • Energy
  • Forces
  • Electricity
  • Magnetism and the motor effect
  • Forces and matter

GCSE Biology

  • Animal co-ordination, control and homeostasis
  • Exchange and transport in animals
  • Key concepts in biology
  • Plant structures and their functions
  • Ecosystems and material cycles
  • Health, disease and the development of medicines
  • Genetics
  • Cells and control
  • Natural selection and genetic modification

GCSE Chemistry

  • Bonding
  • Acids and calculations
  • Electrolysis, metals, transition metals and alloys
  • Reversible reactions
  • Quantitative analysis and fuel cells
  • Groups and energy changes
  • Quantitative chemistry and chemical cells
  • Fuels, Earth and atmosphere
  • Organic chemistry

GCSE Physics

  • Conservation of energy
  • Waves, Light and the EM Spectrum
  • Radioactivity
  • Astronomy
  • Energy
  • Forces
  • Electricity
  • Static electricity
  • Magnetism and the motor effect
  • Electromagnetic induction
  • Particle model
  • Forces and matter